INTRODUCTION:

Nursing is a Noble Profession. Nursing has been known as the oldest of arts and also known as the youngest of the profession.

Nursing is the foundation of the medical care administrations and plays a significant part in the advancement of wellbeing. In the World wide there are around 27 million male and female Nurses.¹

Nurses are the foundation of every country's healthcare system. Nursing plays a significant role in determining the standard of care delivered in hospitals. In truth, nursing job is quite hard, and nurses are subjected to a great deal of stress in the workplace, dealing with the symptoms of a patient's sickness and working circumstances.²

However, the population's access to nursing experts falls below established norms. The demands of nursing education are increasing daily. Theoretical, practical, ethical, and legal consideration for future nurse’s careers are necessary, particularly in the field of patient rights. Additionally, nurses must think about how to best use their expertise skills to assist the numerous people who are in need on a regular basis. Nursing profession is a challenge in developing country like India.³

It is service-oriented to maintain health and well- being of people⁸. Nursing is a career and a contribution to humanity, not just a job, since professional perception has a significant impact on nursing student’s development and the calibre of nursing in the future. As there are no more studies on the attitudes and perceptions of the modern generation towards the nursing profession in India, it is crucial to investigate the factors that influence this perception.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

The study used a descriptive research design with an evaluative methodology. Pre-university students from selected colleges of Mangaluru participated in the study. By using non-probability purposive sampling technique, a total of 362 samples were chosen from those who met the inclusion criteria. An attitude scale and baseline proforma were used to gather the data. The tool was sent for validation to seven experts and the corrections and suggestions were incorporated. The CVI of the tool was 26.44% and ‘r’ value was 0.8. The final tool baseline proforma comprised a total of 8 items, and an attitude scale with 24 questions was used to gauge student’s attitude about the nursing profession. Strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree, and strongly disagree were the possible responses on a 5-point scale for the tool. Positive questions received a score of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. While scoring for negative questions was the opposite. The scoring of attitude scale includes unfavourable (<40), moderately favorable (41-80), favorable (81-120). A signed consent was obtained from students and parents only after formal approval from the institutional review committee, ethics committee, and principal of individual colleges. The study's objective was conveyed to the students. The subjects' identity, security, and confidentiality were all carefully guarded against any potential dangers. The students were asked to fill the baseline proforma and attitude assessment scale to assess their attitude towards nursing profession.

RESULT:

Section A: Description of baseline variables of pre-university students.

This section dealt with the analysis of data related to the baseline variables of 362 students of pre-university colleges.

Table 1: Distribution of subjects according to baseline proforma

N =362

Sl. No.

Baseline Variables

Frequency

Percentage (%)

Age in years

a) <18

b) ≥18

106

256

29.3

70.7

Gender

a) Male

b) Female

264

27.1

72.9

Monthly Income of the parents

(In rupees)

a) <10000

b) 10000 and more

353

2.5

97.5

Occupation of parents

a) Health Care

b) Other

351

3.0

97.0

Any past instances of hospitalization

a) No

b) Yes

223

139

61.6

38.4

Any close relatives are in nursing profession

a) No

b) Yes

216

146

59.7

40.3

Would you like to choose nursing as your career

a) No

b) Not sure

c) Yes

194

131

53.6

36.2

10.2

Stream

a) Arts

b) Commerce

c) Science

281

8.6

13.8

77.6

Section B: Attitude on nursing profession among pre-university students.

This section deals with the level of attitude of 362 students of pre-university college was assessed using attitude scale. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics as represented in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Bar diagram representing the distribution of subjects according to the grading of the attitude score

Table 2: Mean, median and standard deviation of subject’s attitude on nursing profession. N= 362

Variables	Max. Score	Mean + S.D	Median
Attitude Score	120	88+ 8.4	89

Section 3: Association between attitude towards nursing profession and selected baseline variables

Table 3: Association of attitude with baseline variables. N=362

SI. No

Variables

Level of attitude

χ2

P value

<89(Median)

(>89Median)

Age in years

a) <18

b) ≥18

126

130

1.30

0.521

Gender

a) Male

b) Female

127

135

1.10

0.576

Monthly Income of the parents

(In rupees)

a) <10000

b) 10000 and more

173

180

3.56

0.168

Occupation of parents

a) Health Care

b) Other

169

182

1.126

0.570

Any past instances of hospitalization

a) No

b) Yes

113

110

2.500

0.286

Any close relatives are in nursing profession

a) No

b) Yes

114

102

4.21

0.042*

Would you like to choose nursing as your career

a) No

b) Not sure

c)Yes

100

5.638

0.131

Stream

a) Arts

b) Commerce

c) Science

136

145

20.619

0.001***

*** very highly significant * Significant

DISCUSSION:

In the present study 29% of students were below 18 years, majority 71% students were above 18 years and among them majority of 73% subjects were females and 27% were male. The 78% students were in science, 14% were in Commerce and 8% in Arts stream.

Current study findings were corroborated with other study findings on assessment of Students’ Attitudes Towards the Nursing Profession at Wolkite University, Ethiopia, 2021, where More than half of the study participants 190 (52.2%) were female, and more than three fourth of the study participants 305 (83.8%) were between the ages of 18–25 years.⁴

In current research, majority of respondents, 81%, had a highly favorable attitude towards the nursing profession; 19% of the students had a moderately favorable attitude and none of them had unfavourable attitude. The mean score obtained was 88±8.4, which clearly shows a favorable attitude of pre-university students towards nursing profession.

The attitude of this study was supported by other study findings, Attitudes and perceptions of undergraduate nursing students towards the nursing profession one hundred thirty-five students (81.8%) had positive attitudes towards the Nursing profession. The mean attitude score was 129.9±12.3.⁵

The present study findings are consistent with another study findings where Attitude of nursing students towards nursing Profession in South Gujarat colleges were assessed study result shows that there was positive attitude between first year and fourth year B. Sc. Nursing students³.

In this study, the ‘p’ value obtained for majority of baseline variables were above 0.05 except in variables like having relatives in nursing profession (0.042) and stream (0.001). Hence the null hypothesis is accepted which clearly states that there is no association between attitude towards nursing profession and the selected baseline variables.

The study's results were upheld by other study, conducted about the elements that affect Chinese nursing students' attitudes toward the profession. There was no association between nursing student’s attitude and selected baseline variables.⁶

ACKNOWLEDGMENT:

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the Principal of various Pre- university colleges. The authors also thank the management of FMCI. We thank the experts for their guidance and also participants of the study for their whole-hearted participation

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Received on 05.07.2024 Revised on 03.10.2024

Accepted on 27.11.2024 Published on 24.02.2025

Available online from March 17, 2025

Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2025;15(1):9-11.

DOI: 10.52711/2349-2996.2025.00002

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